[113]
For as things are
now, even if a girl be poor, the law provides for her an adequate dowry, if
nature has endowed her with even moderate comeliness; but if through the
acquittal of this woman you drag the law through the mire and make it of no
effect, then the trade of the harlot will absolutely make its way to the
daughters of citizens, who through poverty are unable to marry, and the dignity
of free-born women will descend to the courtesans, if they be given licence to
bear children to whomsoever they please, and still to share in all the rites and
ceremonies and honors in the state.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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